


Here's to the Now

by exouniversity



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, EXOUNI16, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-16 22:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8120593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exouniversity/pseuds/exouniversity
Summary: Kyungsoo was a scientist from the past and Sehun was a student who just wants to get an A. Somewhere in the middle, they fall in love.Written by jellybaeby (LJ)





	

  
__**Prompt #** : 135  
**Title:** Here’s to the Now  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** Kyungsoo/Sehun  
**Summary:** Kyungsoo was a scientist from the past and Sehun was a student who just wants to get an A. Somewhere in the middle, they fall in love.  
**Word Count:** 12k  
**Warnings:** none  
**Author Note(s)** : Oh my god. I really did it. To the mods who were really awesome and amazing throughout this entire fic exchange, thank you so much. You made my first fic fest very fun and amazing. To the prompter, your prompt was so beautiful ;;; the moment I saw it, I could already picture the entire story in my head but I’m poop and this is all the I could do ;A; but I hope you like it! *hugs you* 

_I apologize for the history inconsistencies ;; I kinda wrote the last 3k of this fic in the last minute so I apologize if this sucks ;A; but I love you all please don’t hate me so much ;;;_

**Year: 1814**

“Kyungsoo, I'm really worried about this.” Baekhyun, his friend and his adviser in this project tells him as the slightly taller boy places a mountain pile of papers on his desk.

 

“You don’t have to worry about anything, Baekhyun,” he looks up from his pile of graphs and formulas to throw an assuring smile at his friend. “You’ve seen the machine; it’s going to work.” Kyungsoo thinks about the sphere outside this confined room. Sounds don’t come inside their ‘thinking chamber’ (please don’t judge him, it was Baekhyun who thought of the title) but he knows it’s a ruckus out there—with all the wielding and the construction going on.

 

“Uh, yes I did. But you let Chanyeol be the head of the machine construction, Kyungsoo. _Chanyeol_.” He stressed the name for emphasis. “We both know how much of a klutz that giant is. He’ll end up killing himself with some steel or something.”

 

“You should have just told me you’d be worried about your _boyfriend_ from the start, Baek. I could have spared him the job for you know.”

 

“Shut up, you know him, he’ll do the job anyways. He loves building things.” Kyungsoo looks at him with a teasing smile on his face. “—and he’s not my boyfriend.” he adds hastily tad a beat too late.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t reply and just nods and smiles much to Baekhyun's irritation. He’ll get to his friend’s love dilemma some other time, but for now, he has a project to finish.

 

He scans all the finished reports, all handwritten and carefully worded, one last time before he seals them all inside the envelope. He sighs deeply and stretches his limbs. After five long years of research, trials and failures, finally. It’s _finally_ done. He's holding the final revised paper of Project EX'228.

 

“Let’s go?” he hears his friend and fellow scientist ask. Kyungsoo nods and trails after him.

 

Considering that this project is one that has all of the people’s attention and curiosity, their work force is pretty small. Only trusted companions and comrades are on his team whom Kyungsoo has deemed more than enough. He has the most brilliant minds of the 19th century with him—sure they aren't really the most silent bunch out there but he thinks they'll manage.

 

“You know what, when you told me that you’d build a machine that could turn back time I swear I wanted to smack you in the head and beat the sanity out of you.”

 

“Actually, uh you did hit me in the—”

 

“But believing in you turned out to be great.”

 

“Baek, you told me _every day_ that this wouldn’t—”

 

“I believed in you and now we’re finally taking the leap towards the future…literally.”

 

Kyungsoo laughed. It's no use trying to communicate with his friend right now. The weight of everything for the past five years slowly lifting off his shoulders. All the preparation and the researches are done. All that is left is the actual trial—it’s either they succeed and one of them takes a peek at what the future looks like, or they fail. He doesn’t like to dwell on the second option.

 

They both entered a big, dome like room where they see two people busy looking over their _project_. It was the tall one who notices them first.

 

“Oh? Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, hi.” He waves. Kyungsoo felt Baekhyun flinch beside him but he chose not to comment on it.

 

“Where are the people?” Baekhyun asks.

 

“We sent them home. There is nothing to work on anymore anyways.” the shorter male, Junmyeon, replies. “And besides Chanyeol already took care of everything.”

 

“How’s everything?” he asks.

 

“Everything is great.” Junmyeon says. “I checked all the compartments and Chanyeol made sure the circuits are all connected perfectly.” The tall man, Chanyeol, grins at them with a thumbs up. Baekhyun shakes his head. “It’s gonna be a smooth ride to the 21st century, Kyungsoo.”

 

“I sure do hope so, hyung,” he sighs and moves towards the machine. It’s a sphere shaped contraption, made to fit one person inside. Young Kyungsoo had always had this theory about how one could somehow make time loop in ways that could be controlled. Years and years of research and finally, this project came to be.

 

They all stared at the machine in front of them. “Choosing science over business really is a good idea. These feelings inside me; no briefcase full of money could make me feel this way.” Junmyeon said. Kyungsoo wanted to say otherwise but opted not to. Just this once. “Hooray for science.”

 

“We are a bunch of freaks,” Baekhyun supplies.

 

“A bunch of _really_ smart and handsome freaks,” Chanyeol seconds and suddenly all of them are laughing. The tinge of excitement mixed with anxiety and fear of something they do not know floats behind their laughter and smiles.

 

There is nothing they can do at this time but to wait. It’s pretty ironic since the element that is trapping them is actually the thing that they’re trying to beat.

 

Time isn’t something that the human kind dared to touch. Time had always seemed to be there, existing, even before the human race came to be. It's like this powerful element that no one dared to defy. But Kyungsoo had a vision; he had a dream (and luckily, a brilliant mind to make it possible).

 

No more child's play this time though. This is _real_. He can already see his name in every publication across the land. He can almost hear the epic background music playing as the camera zooms into his and his friend's smiling faces. He can see it, feel it, _live_ it.

 

“So, who likes coffee?” Chanyeol cuts the scene and the music dissolves in the background. Everyone made a sound which roughly translates as a _yes_.

 

 

 

* *

The day starts with Kyungsoo and his morning coffee with Baekhyun making them breakfast. It's pretty normal and if Kyungsoo didn’t know better, he’ll be thinking that this is just one of those random days where they head out to the lab and do more research.

 

“Do you want your eggs fried or—”

 

“So when are you telling Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo cuts him, staring at his friend from their dining table. Baekhyun freezes and drops the egg roughly on his friend’s plate.

 

“You just really have to start with that huh.”

 

“Come on Baek, you’ve been in love with Chanyeol for all our lives. When will you man up and tell him yourself?”

 

“Well, I’m not denying anything right now. Is that not _man_ enough?” he asks. Kyungsoo smiles at him. It’s amusing to see Baekhyun so antsy and nervous like this. It’s not every day that he turns his sass off on Kyungsoo.

 

“It’s not.” He takes a bite of his breakfast. “Listen, we’re taking one of the greatest leaps in the history of mankind today, and you’re not even gonna try and risk something on your own?”

 

“Yeah, that’s easy for you to say Mr. I Have No Time For Love I’m Married To Science.” and the sass is back on.

 

“It’s not like that. I just haven’t found someone to take that risk for, that’s all. I don't have that thing that you have with Chanyeol."

 

Baekhyun heaved a deep sigh and rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll go and tell him,” Kyungsoo smiled in triumph, “ _only_ if you come to me telling me you've found yours. Someone you'll take the risk for.”

 

“But Baek, that could be years from now.”

 

“You are taking mankind's biggest leap hours from now Kyungsoo. Who knows?" he grins over his fried egg. "You might find the one along the way.”

 

 

 

 

* *

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He smells iron, rust, and a pinch of stale nervousness in the air. It's only natural for all of them to feel like this — they've all spent five long years of their lives in this project after all. The fifty-fifty chance of success lingers heavy in the air.

 

"So, we're really doing it huh," Chanyeol breathes. He sounds so breathless and in normal circumstances, Kyungsoo would have teased him about it but now? Now he just finds himself just as anxious and breathless as him.

 

"Yeah, we are." Kyungsoo managed to croak.

 

"I know this is where we should be saying our possibly _final_ words to Kyungsoo," Baekhyun hits Junmyeon hard in the arm, " _ow_ , but I have a far more important question right now." he turns his head harshly towards Kyungsoo's direction. "Why in the _bloody_ world of science are you naked?"

 

Kyungsoo suddenly turns red in the ears and clutched the cloth wrapped around his waist tightly. Baekhyun and Chanyeol tried to hide their chuckles but failed.

 

"Shut up," Kyungsoo bites. He's not really very proud of how he looks at the moment. "Traveling inside the time vortex is very tricky and critical okay. We wouldn't want garments such as clothes to go rip off its waves away from their natural placement. We're just traveling through time, not changing the course of any event." Kyungsoo hastily replies while fixing the cloth wrapped around him again.

 

After ten minutes (and another three after that), the three had finally stopped laughing and were back to seriously looking at the machine. "I think you should go." Baekhyun says (as though they didn't just made fun of Kyungsoo in ways that would last him till the next lifetime).

 

Kyungsoo nods and took a step closer to the time machine.

 

"I've already inputted the correct data, Kyungsoo," Junmyeon says, "if our calculations are right, you would be landing safe and without scratches on the 31st of January in the year 2016." the older male placed his hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder and smiled gently at his friend. "Safe and without scratches, alright?" the last bit more of a wish than a reminder.

 

"Yes, hyung," Kyungsoo replies with a smile.

 

"No need to be all mushy, right? You'll just be away for five months. And then the vortex will suck you back in and take you back to our own time." Chanyeol says. "It would be just like a vacation, which you obviously need." his tall friend smiles at him. "Your calculations and graphs are perfect Kyungsoo. I believe you'll come back safe and we'll get our names published in gold ink." Chanyeol made huge gesture with his hands. "I can already see the headlines: The Fire Dove and his gang beats time."

 

"That is the lamest alias name ever." Baekhyun retorts beside him which Chanyeol just shrugs off.

 

"I think _Phoenix_ suits you better," Kyungsoo suggests, "sounds pretty cool don't you think?"

 

The giant's face visibly brightens up at this; his mind already sketching the scenarios where he can play the Phoenix role. A few moments later, he looks at Kyungsoo and ruffles his hair fondly. 

 

“You’ll be my wing then. An awesome, wing who’ll come back after five months. Got it?” At most times, this habit annoys Kyungsoo because he feels much smaller than he actually is when his six feet friend does it but now? Now, he just needs to feel it once again before he leaves.

 

"You take care okay?" he says with a gentle smile which Kyungsoo returns just as sweetly.

 

Lastly, Kyungsoo turns to Baekhyun. "I'm not gonna say I'll miss you cause that will be a blatant lie," his puppy eyed friend tells him, "but I'll be here waiting for you, Soo. So you better not die, or else."

 

"I'll take that as an _I'll miss you_ ," Kyungsoo says and wraps his friend in a tight hug.

 

"Uh, not a great idea," Baekhyun croaks and Kyungsoo remembers that he's naked.

 

Eew.

Gross.

 

He muttered a silent sorry and walked towards the machine. He takes a final look at all his friends. His friends that had been with him since the beginning and shared all those sleepless nights trying to comprehend the ways of time and trying to unlock its secrets. They've been through so much together and _fuck_ he can't be emotional right now. Who knows what happens when tears enter the vortex? So he bit back the tears and smiled at the three most important people in his life.

 

"Uh, guys I think you're gonna have to turn around," he motions at his towel, "I don't think you want to see me–"

 

"Oh god, no,"

 

"I'd rather not,"

 

He hears his friends mutter and groan while they all turn around immediately. Kyungsoo fought the urge to laugh out loud. "So where am I going to put this towel?"

 

"Throw it away,"

 

"Burn it,"

 

This time, he let himself let out a chuckle. Five months. It's just five months. Just five months and he'll be home.

 

"I'm going," he says before he closes the machine and with a deep sigh, pressed the button.

 

Loud whirling and seconds of blinding light engulfed the entire place and when the three opened their eyes and looked behind them, all they see is the sphere turning rapidly like a ball that was pushed in a spin.

 

The three held their breaths while looking at the empty machine.

 

Kyungsoo is gone.

 

He took the leap.

 

 

 

 

* *

Kyungsoo doesn't remember much about his travel. All he could register in his whirled mind are the faint whistle in his ear and the taste of metal in his mouth. The young scientist had his eyes tightly closed as he prayed to all the gods he knows that he come out of this alive.

 

Moments later, he lands with a soft thud on a place Kyungsoo hopes is still part of planet earth. He feels soft pillows and faint scent of fabric softener on his nose so he thinks he could scrap _death_ for now. He opens his eyes slowly but he can't see past the swirls in his vision so he opted to close his eyes for a bit and shake his head. He hears something similar to a door opening and a few seconds later, there is a thundering scream.

 

"You. Man. Bed. Naked." the voice, a _male's_ voice, shouts in tangents. Kyungsoo is really not in the right state to comprehend the boy's high pitched squeals so he tried to raise his hands to make the boy calm down.

 

Maybe he should have started by asking the question " _Do you do martial arts?_ " because the moment he did so little as his fingers moving, the boy jumped on him and tangled him in the sheets keeping him from any further movements.

 

"Why are you naked?" was the first question that the stranger asks Kyungsoo. He looks at him (tries to—the pillows are blocking his eyes) with confusion which makes the other garble incoherent words. "Uh, I mean. Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

 

Kyungsoo was about to open his mouth for an answer but the boy cut him off.

 

"Wait, is this robbery? Are you a robber? Do robbers rob naked now?" the stranger shoots him questions like an artillery gun on the first world war.

 

"LET ME TALK!" Kyungsoo growls effectively pushing the stranger (young, _attractive_ stranger if he may add) off of him. The boy looked shocked, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly parted. Kyungsoo huffs while steadying his breath. His head still aches and he could still taste metal in his mouth but he needs to explain everything to this stranger before he's killed with his honor stripped off of him (and by _honor_ , he means his _clothes_ ).

 

"Is this robbery? Are you a robber? Do robbers rob naked now?" the boys asks again but now in a calmer, gentler manner. Kyungsoo feels another headache coming and it is _not_ from his time traveling.

 

He closes his eyes and steadies his thoughts. "I'm not a robber, okay. I'm a scientist. I'm from the past and I've come here to test the time machine that me and my friends have created. I have visited your time temporarily."

 

A pause.

 

"You're crazy," the boy laughed, "maybe not a robber, but definitely crazy." he continued.

 

"I am not—" 

 

"Come on dude, seriously? We're inside the dorms. If the instructors find out what shit you've been sniffing, you'll get in loads of trouble." the boy smiles smugly; as though he knows something Kyungsoo doesn't.

 

"What are you—"

 

"Let's go pretty little schoolmate. Let's get you to your room and call it a day. You'll remember none of this tomorrow but we really need to get you out of here." he pulls Kyungsoo's arm but he struggles.

 

"I told you I'm not from here. I'm Do Kyungsoo and I'm a scientist from the past—"

 

The boy laughed again, "Scientist from the past," he clutches his stomach, " _classic._ "

 

The boy opened one of his drawers and tossed him one shirt and a pajama pants, "You get dressed while I call your room number so your roommate could come and get you. I don't think I've seen you around before." he sits on one of the desks inside the room and took something Kyungsoo's not sure what. He eyed it closely and stepped closer to the boy. 

 

"Wait, you do have a roommate don't you?" he asks only to be surprised to see the naked man (now already wearing his pajama pants so technically the _half-naked_ man) so close to his face.

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"What is that thing?" Kyungsoo asks as he points at the telephone on the boy's hand. 

 

"It's a telephone?" the other boy replies, clear questions on his face. 

 

"And what does it do?" Kyungsoo has so much better things he needs to know but his scientific curiosity is screaming inside his head and he needs to _know_.

 

"Uh, humans use it to communicate with fellow humans?" the boy answers slowly. If it was meant to taunt Kyungsoo and the eagerness in his face, the young scientist doesn't notice. He's too busy wanting to know what the hell it does.

 

"Even without wires and anything?"

 

"Yes." the boy replies looking more and more confused at the moment.

 

"You mean you can talk to someone using this thing?" he grabs the wireless phone from the other's hand and turns it with his hands. He looks so much like a little boy seeing toy cars for the first time. "Curious. Really curious."

 

"Man, that thing you took is really strong. You should stop using them, it's not good for the health." the boy says. Kyungsoo just looks at him with wide eyes and a slight smile on his face. The other snatched the phone from him and turns to press a button on it. "Tell me your room number."

 

"I told you, I don't live here." Kyungsoo says finally putting on the shirt the boy gave him. It's a little big and baggy on him but he thinks it would have to do for now.

 

"Oh yeah, because you came from ' _the past_ '," the air quote slightly offending Kyungsoo, "and you're here cause the time machine you created brought you here."

 

"That is exactly what happened." the fact that this stranger is nothing close to believing him makes Kyungsoo start feeling frustrated. 

 

"Well, that's funny cause I'm making a term paper about the disappearance of a young scientist who happened to claim that _he_ made the time machine," he fishes out the draft of his paper on the top of his desk, "and there is no way that this is—" 

 

The boy looks at some kind of a painting, only that it looks smooth (a photo) and not three inches thick, slightly blurred and in black and white (a really poorly taken photo), then back to Kyungsoo. Looks at the picture and then back to him again. 

 

"Holy shit."

 

He points at Kyungsoo while his widened comically, taking glances at the picture every now and then. "Holy fuck THIS IS YOU!" he screams as he takes in the exact similarities of the two. The wide eyes, the heart shaped lips. Even the hideous hairdo (and there he was thinking that the naked man was just put into some weird dare while high as fuck).

 

Kyungsoo just stared at him and smiled while the other boy looked like he's scared the living hell out of his system. "Hello," he offers his hand in greeting, "the name is Do Kyungsoo. I came from the year 1814 and I need a place to stay." he took the researched data from the stranger's hands and eyed it carefully. "I'd help you with your paper if you let me live with you for a couple of months?"

 

The boy still stared at him, mouth open and eyes so wide Kyungsoo is afraid they're gonna pop out. "Holy...fuck." the boy grinned widely after a few moments and took his waiting hand in a gentle handshake. "I am _so_ gonna ace this paper."

 

 

 

* *

"Wait, so you're telling me that you really did come from the past," the boy, Sehun as how he introduced himself a bit earlier, asks. He is seated on his chair beside his desk; eyes boring holes on the stranger, Do Kyungsoo as how his research paper on History tells him, who is sitting idly on his bed. His wide eyes absorbing everything around him like a formerly blind man seeing the world in full color for the first time. "and that your time machine brought you into my time, 2016?"

 

"That is precisely correct." Kyungsoo nods and shoots him an approving smile. Sehun can't help the small _thanks_ that came out of his lips. What can he do? He is a person who loves being appreciated. He clears his throat afterwards though and tries to focus on the matter at hand.

 

"If you succeeded, then why aren't there any news about you and your time machine? This should have been the biggest breakthrough in ancient and modern science. Your name should be on my History midterms exam." Sehun shudders at the thought of another exam but thinks he'll cross one bridge at a time. "Why aren't people talking about this?"

 

For a second, Kyungsoo looked like he's in thought. His lips pursed and his eyebrows furrowed together. "I think the most logical explanation in this is that in this timeline, I haven't returned to my own time yet; thus, our experiment has not yet been proven successful. In this timeline, no one proved the success of the time machine which means no news and no midterm exams with my name on it."

 

"So you'll be returning to your own time then?"

 

"Yes. After five months, just like how we inputted in the machine, the vortex will suck me back into my own time and all of these will look like it never happened."

 

"Oh, so you'll be like rewriting history?"

 

Kyungsoo smiled. The thought of having his dream, his and his friends' dream, coming true brings him so much thrill and excitement. Maybe Chanyeol will have his Phoenix and the Gang article after all. "Yes, indeed."

 

"That is so cool!" Sehun exclaimed. Suddenly, he is jumping towards Kyungsoo with his unfinished paper in his hand. "I'm actually writing this paper for History class and our topic is about 'Failed Experiments'," he looks at Kyungsoo with wide eyes, "sorry, no offense."

 

"None taken." Kyungsoo smiles. It won't be a failed experiment once he comes back and kick those headlines into every publication with his own feet.

 

"So we were given the topic and then I came across your experiment and thought how strange it is that the head scientist of the project researching about time machines became missing after their first on the field trial." Kyungsoo looked at his pictures (yes, pictures, they were called pictures) and yes it was definitely him. Where did they get this and why aren't Baekhyun, Junmyeon and Chanyeol—

 

"Wait. What about my friends?" Kyungsoo asks, alarmed all of a sudden. "What happened to them?"

 

If in this time, Kyungsoo never returned to 1814, what happened with Baekhyun and the others?

 

"I'm not really sure. I haven't gotten enough data, you see." Sehun puts his paper down. "No other information is available other than your name and these old as fuck photos. I was just about to scrap the idea, but now?" Sehun put his arm around Kyungsoo. The gesture a little bit too friendly for two people who just met, but Kyungsoo thinks Sehun is the type to initiate friendly gesture towards people he just met so he just went on with it. "Right now, I have you and you will tell me in full detail how you and your brainy friends did it."

 

"Only if you allow me to stay with you for the next five months."

 

Sehun released him to gesture around the room. "Treat it like it's yours," he says and Kyungsoo laughs.

 

"Thank you, you are so kind."

 

Sehun chuckles, "Yeah, we are going to fix the way you talk."

 

 

 

* *

Originally, Kyungsoo's plan was just to lay off everything else while he waits for the five months to pass. He's afraid that he would accidentally alter the suspected flow of events just because of one wrong move. He'll stay low and help Sehun with his paperwork, he'll come back to his time, Sehun will get an A; everyone is happy.

 

Too bad Sehun has something else in his mind.

 

"No, Sehun, I am _not_ enrolling in your university." Kyungsoo replies for the nth time that night. This Sehun kid could be really persistent when he wants to.

 

"But you need to. Or else the admins will start questioning me," Sehun put his hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder, "I don't like questions."

 

"And I don't like to study college. Enrolling means going out. Going out means interacting with people. I may accidentally change how things should be with one wrong decision, Sehun. I can't risk that."

 

"Then you'll just have to do the right decisions then!" Sehun exclaims like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

 

"And that is?"

 

"Enrolling for this semester and studying boring classes with me." he replies with a wide smile. "Come on. Any decision that involves me is right. I mean," Sehun gestures on himself, "hyung, look at me."

 

"But the timeline—"

 

"Oh fuck the timeline. Don't you want to experience college again? All the exciting stuff, stuff you shouldn't be doing but you do anyways, the things you should be doing but you're not because you're one hell of a lazy ass. Don't you want to be a lazy ass again?"

 

"I don’t know. I've never been to college."

 

"You're fucking with me." Sehun deadpanned.

 

"I never had to." being a brilliant mind in the 19th century has its perks, Kyungsoo thinks.

 

"So you fucking built a time machine, a machine that deserves all the noble prizes in the world, without stepping into a dirty fucking university?!" 

 

"I don't get why you're shouting at—"

 

"You've never been a lazy ass before?"

 

"Well, I started project EX'228 when I was eighteen. It's all I worked on since then."

 

"This is ridiculous. You're attending this university with me and I swear to god, this will be the best thing to ever happen to you." he pauses in thought before adding, "Well, next to your noble prize of course. Maker of the time machine and all." Sehun says as he opens his laptop to send an online enrolment form for his brainy friend.

 

"How can you be so sure? The world is so full of probabilities Sehun; one can't possibly be sure of anything." Kyungsoo's not sure if Sehun talks science but science is all that Kyungsoo has. Science is what brought him here, just five months away from reaching his dream, or a noble prize like what Sehun says, so he thinks science wins.

 

"Come on, hyung. It's college." Sehun says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "College is awesome. In a university, anything can happen." the tall boy says with a smile so sure that Kyungsoo just doesn't have any choice but to say—

 

"No."

 

"Sorry, enrolment already done." Sehun shows him the online proof of enrolment and Kyungsoo groans internally, and externally, he doesn't really have that much grasp on reality yet. Sehun just smiles and pats his shoulder.

 

"Sleep early tonight hyung, we have a 7:30 class tomorrow." he says and covers himself with his cartoon blankies. Kyungsoo wanted to rip his self out of his body. 7:30? His soul doesn't want to be up at 7:30 in the morning.

 

Kyungsoo covers himself with the same cartoon blankie as Sehun (because he's a good boy who helps a brainy scientist in need) and wished the days to pass quickly.

 

That doesn't happen though. If anything his days would be even slower while he face his first days as a university student. Kyungsoo inhales and sighs all his anxieties aside. Nothing will go wrong as long as he doesn't do anything rash. He can do this. 

 

Maybe. He hopes.

 

 

 

* *

The first day of school turns out to be of Kyungsoo attending all their classes and Sehun sleeping through each and every one of them. Sehun's snores and gentle moans were Kyungsoo's playlist as he jots down notes and snippets of things he already knows. Mathematical equations that he knows like the back of his hand, familiar graphs and formulas; this is what he loves so much about numbers. Things may change, time may pass but if there is one thing that is constant besides change, it would be numbers.

 

"Oh, you're smiling." He suddenly hears Sehun say beside him. His voice rough and raspy from sleep. Kyungsoo jumps from his seat and looks at the other boy, surprised.

 

"How long have you been awake?"

 

"Since that professor started cursing and mumbling us prayers." Sehun answers while rubbing off sleep from his eyes. Kyungsoo is glad they're seated at the back of the room, away from the prof's vision cause even though this is his first day in a university, he knows they'll get in trouble for sleeping in class.

 

"He's not cursing at us, Sehun. Those are called logarithms and mathematical equations. It says that if numbers are transposed and reciprocated-"

 

"Oh god, you're cursing at me too. I'm reporting this to the student council."

 

Kyungsoo can't hide the chuckle that comes out of his mouth. This Sehun kid may be loud and childish at times but he's unexpectedly nice and funny. In just three days, Kyungsoo had already warmed up to him like they've been friends for a long time. He proceeds back to writing down the notes. He might not need it, but this tall, snoozing paperclip beside him clearly does if he wants to pass his other subjects besides History.

 

Time passed by rather quickly than Kyungsoo expected, his mind alert and alive from all the lectures they've been taking. He knows it would make him sound like a total nerd but he really loves studying. It is the one thing that he's good at and it feels nice to stand on familiar ground again after traveling into a time that is not his own.

 

Jumping into 2016 is so much more overwhelming than Kyungsoo thought. Suddenly he has thrown himself into a world so filled with things he doesn't understand. Machines and gadgets that he thought only rests in a child's imaginative mind are now in reality and are used for daily living. Tall buildings that weren't there before, parks that he once played at now gone and replaced with new establishments. Everything is so familiar yet so different at the same time and Kyungsoo can't decide if he likes it or not.

 

He has to survive though, even just for five months, he has to survive.

 

"Just admit it already. You're having fun aren't you?" Sehun nudges him in the sides as they hustle out in the middle of the campus halls. It's lunch time and students are all dying to get out of their classrooms.

 

"I'm a scientist Sehun. I love knowing things."

 

"Well I'm a student and I love sleeping in class."

 

Kyungsoo laughs at this. Talking to Sehun about how he slept talk all throughout their Philosophy lecture, Kyungsoo failed to notice the student carrying huge boxes running fast in his direction. Just before the impact happens, Sehun grabs him by the shoulder and pulled him into his chest and kept him there. His own heart beating rapidly at how fast everything happened.

 

He feels his surroundings spinning, hears Sehun shouting at the student, the taller's scent and gentle shake drawing him back to reality.

 

"Are you alright?" Sehun asks worriedly as he scans Kyungsoo for any injuries. He sees the other's wide eyes and shaking hands. "Hyung,"

 

"I'm fine. I'm fine, Sehun." he assures him with a weak smile, his still disoriented state betraying his words. 

The truth is, he's not okay. He's scared. He knows very well that he's not supposed to be here, in this lifetime. That every step he takes outside of the room is a step on broken glass. Things he does in this timeline might affect the future or may alter the past – he doesn't want that to happen.

 

But Sehun tightens his grip on his shoulder gently guiding him past the sea of people, and Kyungsoo starts to think that maybe he's thinking too much. The other man's hold makes him think that maybe nothing bad will happen. Kyungsoo likes the warmth and the _hope_ Sehun brings so he lets him lead.

 

"Sorry about that. It's always chaotic out there when it's lunch. All these hyenas disguised as students grappling and bumping each—"

 

"It's okay, Sehun. I'm fine now." Kyungsoo smiles at him and it's real this time. Albeit weak, but genuine. The other smiles back at him then drags him inside the canteen.

 

"Come here, I'm gonna introduce you to my friends." the young man says cheerily.

 

"Introduce? Wait, no—"

 

"Yooooooooow!" Sehun yells to a group of other students seated on a table, Kyungsoo following right behind him.

 

"Sup asshole," one replies.

 

"Go die somewhere else," the other says through a mouthful of sandwich.

 

Kyungsoo furrows his brows. He's hearing _very_ familiar voices but he can't see because Sehun and his overly broad shoulders are blocking his view.

 

"Guys, I need you to meet somebody."

 

"Sehun, if that is another stripper, I'm telling you I'm not interested."

 

_Wait a minute. That deep voice._

 

"Yeah, this fucker is off the business. He's been mine for two months now so. Sorry bitches."

 

_Hey that's—_

 

"Baekhyun?!!" Kyungsoo shouts startling everyone on the table including Sehun. He pushes him aside and gets the shock of his life when he sees Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Junmyeon staring right back at him. They're all sporting rather colorful hairstyles but there is no doubt. It's them.

 

"Guys, this is Kyungsoo.” Sehun introduces him cheerily. “The man I'm researching about."

 

"Cool! The man from the past? That scientist that disappeared?" Junmyeon said in amusement as he looks at Kyungsoo with wide eyes. Kyungsoo looks back in disbelief because they can’t be here. Or are these people reincarnations of his friends?

 

"Hello there! My name is Baekhyun," he pulls Kyungsoo on a seat beside his, "wait you already know my name. How do you know my name?" He thinks for a second before his mouth widens and his eye flashes in that light bulb moment.

 

"Could it be—I was in the past too?" Kyungsoo grimaces as he takes in all of Baekhyun's shouting. All he manages to reply was a nod and a smile. "That is the coolest shit ever." He grabs Chanyeol's arm who is just staring at him like he's a movie character coming to life. "Hey, Chanyeol are you hearing this?"

 

"Yes and I bet you're just as lame as you are now during the—" he turns at Kyungsoo, "what year were you from again?"

 

"1814."

 

"—1814!" He looks at Kyungsoo again. "1814? Wow man, that is so cool."

 

"They know?" Kyungsoo asks Sehun but it was Junmyeon who answers him.

 

"This kid can't keep anything from us. You're all he's blabbing about for the past days." Sehun’s ears perks up at this.

 

"He's definitely right about the _cute_ part. I mean Baekhyun is cuter but—"

 

Chanyeol was cut by Sehun suddenly thrusting an entire sandwich into his mouth while he laughs humorlessly without looking at Kyungsoo's direction. "You talk too much."

 

"Wait, so if Baekhyun was in the past with you, then are there any chance that we are too?" Junmyeon asks. Kyungsoo smiled and looked at their faces one by one. Suddenly, he feels like he's back in their old lab, doing research works while waiting for Chanyeol to yelp in pain because of an accident his long limbs has caused.

 

"Yes, all of you are. You are the ones who helped me make my time machine. Your 1814 selves are waiting for me to come back in our time, probably messing around while trying hard not to accidentally kill each other."

 

"Oh, so we're really smart people in the past?" Baekhyun asks and Kyungsoo smiles. Seeing his friend’s faces feels like a breath of fresh air. What kind of luck it is to find them all together like this in this time?

 

“What? Does this mean I’m stuck with you losers even from a thousand years ago?” Junmyeon complains and they all beat him with chopsticks and—was that knife in Chanyeol’s hand?

 

It turns out that he also gets along well with the reincarnated versions of his friends. They are all still basically the same. Baekhyun is still loud and sassy, Chanyeol still laughs like there is no tomorrow, Junmyeon still makes the lamest jokes ever known to man. Even for a moment, it feels like Kyungsoo is back home.

 

"How about Sehun?" Junmyeon asks after minutes of talking and laughing together. Kyungsoo's smile fades and looks at the male with questions in his eyes. "If we were all friends in your time, where was Sehun?"

 

Kyungsoo looked at Sehun and his eyes met with his.

 

Oh Sehun was _not_ in their previous lives. This is the first time they met and the fact that if all of these never happened – if Kyungsoo didn't make that time machine and traveled to the future – he would _never_ meet Sehun, sits uncomfortably at the back of his mind. 

 

When Sehun smiles at him, Kyungsoo averts his eyes cause for the first time in a really long time, he doesn't have an answer to Junmyeon's question.

 

 

 

 

* *

"Are Baekhyun and Chanyeol together in this lifetime?" Kyungsoo asks while they're fixing their sleeping beds one night. It's been a week since he jumped from his own time to the future and so far, nothing's been off or strange. Sehun and his friends (well, Kyungsoo's friends too, just from a different time) has been nothing but nice to him and he would be lying if he says he is not enjoying his stay.

 

"Are you kidding me? Those two are like your greatest love story come to life." Sehun replies, dusts from his covers flying around and he sneezes. Kyungsoo smiles. _Cute._

 

"Chanyeol's family is really rich, like _buy everything you want we don't mind_ kind of rich and Baekhyun is the son of their house's caretaker so it's only natural that they grew together. First time I saw them both, I already know how much they both love each other. I have that radar you see," he does some weird antennae gesture with his fingers on his head making Kyungsoo laugh gently, "but at the same time, we all know that it can't be. It may sound fancy in romance novels and in the movies but in real life, difference in societal ranks _do_ matter. People raise their eyebrows; the whispers never stop."

 

Sehun placed his pillow neatly on the head of his bed and sat comfortably, his body facing Kyungsoo. "Mr. Park even threatened Chanyeol hyung that they'd disinherit him if he continued living around Baekhyun hyung. You know, all those shit people romanticize in movies and dramas."

 

"But he didn't listen," Kyungsoo blurted.

 

"He didn't listen." Sehun raises his eyes on Kyungsoo. "Oh? You know how stories like this go? Does these things happen on your time too?"

 

"No. But the Chanyeol I know never listens to anything he's told."

 

"Well, that’s Chanyeol hyung for both our times. Two years into them living away from their families and Chanyeol hyung finally confesses his love for Baekhyun hyung. Poof. And they lived happily as long as the _Parks does not find out about them cause if they did they're both dead_."

 

Kyungsoo wanted to laugh but he figures this is no laughing matter. It's unfair. Why can't they be happy together? If love is something that is good, then why does it have to be this hard? Well, at least in this lifetime, his two friends are together. If only the Baekhyun and the Chanyeol back at his time were the same.

 

"It took Chanyeol two years?" Kyungsoo shakes his head in disbelief.

 

"He's an idiot. They both are." Sehun chuckles before sprawling himself on his newly covered bed. The younger wiggles and rolls around like a kitten and Kyungsoo laughs at the pleased look on his face.

 

"It's what love does to people," Sehun sighs, "it makes us stupid and unreasonable and dumb. But we still love anyways because when together and with the right person, being dumb and stupid doesn't sound so bad."

 

 

 

* *

Kyungsoo realizes that Sehun is a really joy to be with. There is not one moment in his stay that he’s not smiling. He laughs at how Sehun explains things (he knows he’s fooling him half the time but Sehun looks really cute when he thinks he’s fooling Kyungsoo so he doesn’t mind). He laughs every time he sleep talks his way out of a graded recitation.

 

If there is something really wonderful in 2016. It would be this man with the most beautiful eye smile he has ever seen.

 

 

 

 

* *

“Don’t you have a family waiting for you back home?” Sehun suddenly asks one uneventful night. They both can’t sleep (college insomnia kicking into their systems) and so they both decided to lounge on the small balcony of their room looking at the sky with a cup of instant coffee that constitutes 70% of the blood that flows in Sehun’s body.

 

Kyungsoo takes a sip on the coffee and closes his eyes. “This is a miracle, wow.” Whoever patented the instant coffee needs to be in Sehun’s midterm exams too. Sehun laughs while sipping his own coffee. It always amuses him how Kyungsoo reacts to everything new around him. How those wide eyes flicker emotions twenty times a second and how his lips form into that beautiful heart shaped smile whenever he finds something interesting. It’s _cute_.

 

Sehun sips more coffee to drown his thoughts away.

 

“But no. I don’t have one. I was an orphan back in my time. Raised and grew at an orphanage, blah, blah blah, blah blah.” Kyungsoo sighs and the air came out as a faint white fog. “I think life is repaying me with this,” he points at his head, “to make up for the family it never gave me.”

 

Sehun just looks at him; there are probably a million things going on in his head (Sehun’s head is really unpredictable) but something about the way he looks at Kyungsoo makes him feel something twirl and twist inside him. So Kyungsoo looks away.

 

“Life’s a bitch.”

 

Kyungsoo laughs and nods in agreement. “Amen to that.”

 

“Isn’t it sad?”

 

 _Sad_. There are hundreds of adjectives to describe how Kyungsoo felt while growing up but ‘sad’ doesn’t even come close. The emptiness inside him, those nights he woke up alone and slept alone. The birthdays, Christmas, New Years and Thanksgivings he spent faking the smiles and forcing out the laughter.

Oh, he felt something. But _sad_ wasn’t enough.

 

Kyungsoo opted to just look at the stars and sip his coffee than to give Sehun an answer that he knows he will regret. “Why are there so little stars in here? Back in my time there were—”

 

He was cut off by a sudden warmth enveloping him and gentle pats on his back.

 

“I’m sorry.” He gently says against Kyungsoo’s hair. “Because life was a bitch to you.”

 

“I don’t think you should apologize for that.”

 

“I’m also sorry that you had to grow up alone. I wish I was there to put icings on your face during your birthdays or wake you up with loud horns on New Year’s Eve.” The gentle pats on Kyungsoo’s back lulling him into a place where the young him could have been happy. He imagines how it would be if he really has Sehun with him back then. He would be annoyed as hell and he’d have a hard time getting off the icing from his hair but he’d feel alive. At least he’ll feel alive.

 

They stayed like that for a long time. When Kyungsoo started crying? He never remembered. All that was left in his memory was Sehun and his embrace, his warmth and his words.

 

 _I will make it that you’ll never have to be alone again_. 

 

 

 

 

* *

Somewhere in between the mornings filled with Kyungsoo’s smiles and the evenings made complete with Kyungsoo’s voice makes Sehun wonder if him asking for Kyungsoo to stay would be asking for too much.

 

 

 

 

* *

Kyungsoo takes his calendar out and looks at all the crossed dates.

 

It’s too fast.

 

Why is time moving too fast?

 

With something heavy weighing his hand down, he crosses another day out.

 

 

 

 

* *

"So how is that research paper going so far?" Junmyeon asks one night. They're all in Baekhyun and Chanyeol's room studying. And by studying, they mean them trying to get Kyungsoo into playing Overwatch.

 

"It's fine, I guess. I mean, I already know what Kyungsoo hyung's favorite color is and did you know that he's afraid of insects?" Sehun chuckles while gently shaking his head. "One of the greatest minds of the human kind yet still defeated by those little crawling winged creatures."

Those are really personal information and not really something that would be essential for a term paper, Junmyeon thinks, but he opts to stay quiet about it.

 

They hear a sudden yelp and a scream of pain coming from the couch and they both laugh at the chaos. "I'm glad Kyungsoo is already fitting in so well. Baekhyun already named them two _best friends_. Good luck trying to get him away from your little friend from the past."

 

Sehun's smile falls at this, the change in his expressions really faint but not faint enough for Junmyeon not to see. He follows their youngest trail of sight and looks at Sehun worriedly when he sees him staring at Kyungsoo's laughing figure.

 

Three months have passed since Kyungsoo first came to their lives and Junmyeon is not blind to see Sehun being the happiest since then. Yes, Sehun had always been loud and playful and childish and clingy but with Kyungsoo - it's different. It's the look in his eyes, the gentle smile he has on his face when he thinks Kyungsoo is not looking. Something in between the blurred lines of _take the risk_ and _never gonna happen_ makes Junmyeon's heart twinge for his friend.

 

"Sehun," he says, his voice soft and gentle like he's afraid something within Sehun would break if they speak any louder, "you know Kyungsoo can't stay right?"

 

Yes. Sehun _knows_. He also knows that Kyungsoo does not belong in this time. But he also can’t help but think that whenever he’s hearing his laughs and seeing his smiles, he belongs _exactly_ in here. He wants Kyungsoo to belong right here with him.

 

Three months and Sehun already wishes he had the time machine Kyungsoo invented so he can make these moments last.

 

 

 

 

* *

“What is taking them so long?” Sehun asks Junmyeon as he strides around Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s room. It’s the Student’s Night tonight and they’re already missing out all the fun because of some sorcery those two lovebirds are molding into Kyungsoo.

 

“Stop walking around Sehun, you’re making me dizzy and I haven’t even started drinking yet.” Junmyeon sulks and pulls Sehun into the couch.

 

Sehun tugs at the collar of his white button down. Who thought that it was a good idea to make them all wear formal attires though? They would all be drinking and puking around each other anyways. He even spent an extra hour in the mirror to perfect his already perfect hair.

 

A few moments (and a lot of whining from Sehun) later and finally the door opens revealing a smiley Baekhyun and his tall giant beside him, both also clad in suits and ties.

 

“Where is Kyungsoo?” Sehun asks and just then, Kyungsoo walked shyly from behind the two wearing a perfectly fitting suit and a perfectly styled hair with him and his perfectly wide eyes and his perfectly beautiful smile and—

 

“Wow,” Junmyeon speaks what Sehun’s been screaming in all languages inside his head. The older nudges Sehun urging him to just _say something_ and stop gaping like a fish.

 

“You look,” _amazing, beautiful, wonderful, like a handsome prince torn right out of my niece’s fairy tale but there is no princess cause the princess should be me_ , “nice.” Sehun clears his throat so he doesn’t sound too breathless. “You look nice.”

 

Kyungsoo brightens up at this and unconsciously fixed his perfectly styled up hair and – Sehun should really stop saying _perfect_. “Thanks.”

 

“Let’s go?” Chanyeol pushed them and pulled Baekhyun beside him. “The drinks are waiting.”

 

Sehun shyly walked beside Kyungsoo, letting the rest of their friends go first. Along the silent halls of the dorm rooms, their soft matched steps served as a melody for all the things that couldn’t last. The smiles they shared were the anthem of the things that would most probably end, but they take the step anyways cause every moment spent with each other is better than having to spend it away from them both.

 

Junmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun sees it but chose to be quiet about it. This is a game they can’t play and the rules are nonexistent. In the end, they all know whose gonna win and whose gonna lose.

 

Sehun and Kyungsoo knows it too. Which is why when Sehun asked Kyungsoo to dance into the slow song he’s sure Junmyeon picked (cause it’s tacky and lamely sweet), Kyungsoo agreed in a heartbeat. Why when Sehun held him close and swayed him into the music, Kyungsoo held him even tighter. Words weren’t spoken, but their souls understood each other perfectly.

 

“Do you realize that if I didn’t make that time machine, we wouldn’t even meet?” Kyungsoo says while they were both swinging with the music.

 

“What do you mean?” Sehun asks. Kyungsoo looked up to meet his eyes and he sees something in there. Something that gives him _hope_. Hope that he’s not supposed to be having.

 

“Just like what Junmyeon hyung said. You weren’t in my time. You didn’t exist from where I came from. If all of this didn’t happen, if I didn’t land on your room—”

 

“Naked,” Sehun quips and Kyungsoo smiles.

 

“Right, naked, then I wouldn’t have met you. All these wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have—”

 

Sehun shuts him up with a finger. “But you’re here now. We’re here now, together, and we’re dancing in some lame ass love song Junmyeon hyung picked from his chick playlist,” Kyungsoo laughs at this and it sound so beautiful that Sehun felt his chest tighten with adoration.

 

“So why won’t we just _live_ it? Live in the now.”

 

Kyungsoo smiles back, looks at the man in front of him, tracing his handsome features with his eyes and gaze. The _now_.

 

“Alright. Let’s do that.”

 

 

 

 

* *

Kyungsoo just had the best night of his life and he still smells like alcohol and sweat from all the craziness that happened in the party but he finds himself smiling happily.

 

He sighs as he looks at Sehun’s sleeping figure at the opposite of the room. The brat didn’t even change and is sprawled out at his bed wearing his white button down and crisp black slacks. His shirt untucked and his buttons undone, but Kyungsoo thinks he looks handsome. So sinfully handsome. The kind of handsome that he shouldn’t let himself want.

 

Kyungsoo bites his lip as he takes out the calendar from under his table. Crimson marks filling his vision. His heart clenches and his chest tightens as he makes another mark on the calendar.

 

Just one more month.

 

 

 

 

* *

“Where is Sehun?” Kyungsoo asks one lunch. It’s only Chanyeol and him that day since Baekhyun and Junmyeon have their classes. “He doesn’t have any class at noon and he wouldn’t tell me where he goes.” Sehun has always been missing every lunch and never comes back till four in the afternoon for two months now. “You don’t think he’s selling drugs isn’t he?” he jokes.

 

Chanyeol laughs but it died down faster than normal, proceeding to look at Kyungsoo. “He’s not telling you anything isn’t he?”

 

“Why? Does he need to tell me something?” Kyungsoo asks, suddenly anxious at the tone of Chanyeol’s voice.

 

It seemed like Chanyeol liked showing more than talking so he pulled Kyungsoo out of the university and into a fast food restaurant just outside the school grounds. “Chanyeol if you’re still hungry we could just grab some—”

 

But he didn’t get to finish his sentence cause Chanyeol is pointing behind him with his chin. He follows the direction with his gaze and there he sees him. _Sehun_. Through the glass. Working his way around, fixing orders and making rounds. It looked really hectic and tiring but Sehun was there working diligently, sweat forming in his forehead. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows in confusion and turned to Chanyeol.

 

“Studying at a university isn’t free, you know. The money his parents are sending him are just enough for his own tuition and rent.”

 

“So he’s—”

 

“The school’s been asking about you. And you know Sehun, he doesn’t like questions. They’re suspicious about a new student suddenly coming and enrolling in the middle of the semester and so to prevent them from asking any more questions, Sehun started finding ways to pay for all your expenses.”

 

They both looked at Sehun, obviously very tired but never stopping. Greeting customers with a smile on his face, and Kyungsoo wants to run over there and hug the hell out of him.

 

“The kid never had to work before. He even yelled at me for wanting to make him pass the remote control to me, but look at him.”

 

Chanyeol looked at Kyungsoo and placed his hand on his shoulder, patting him gently there.

 

“He saw how much you liked studying in the university, Soo. He wanted you to continue being happy.” He sees Kyungsoo looking at Sehun with those eyes. He knows what those looks mean cause he’s been looking at Baekhyun with those eyes for as long as he can remember.

 

“Kyungsoo, I know it may be a little selfish for me to ask you this but,” he breathes deeply. He looks at the longing in Kyungsoo’s eyes and Chanyeol realizes that he can’t say it. He can’t tell them to take a risk, because he knows there is no risk. There is only _losing_. He sees it with the way Kyungsoo tries to blink away the tears. His silent pleas of _I hope_ and _I wish_.

 

This story already has its ending written and formed and these people are just unlucky to have their story written this way.

 

Chanyeol doesn’t finish his sentence and just let Kyungsoo walk away.

 

 

 

 

* *

The impact happens much, much later—with less than a month left for Kyungsoo to stay. Baekhyun calling and telling them that he would miss school for a couple of days because there was a family emergency. He had to come back home because cousin’s wife is in the hospital— _miscarriage_ was what Kyungsoo understood from the conversation.

 

“They were really expecting the baby and were so excited.” Sehun says. “They already have the name all decided actually.”

 

“Yeah, it’s funny cause they were going to name him _Kyungsoo_. Like you,” Chanyeol points at Kyungsoo.” What a great coincidence that we met you just after they confirmed the good news.” Chanyeol shakes his head. “It’s really sad.”

 

Sehun looks at Kyungsoo and sees him frozen on the spot. His hands are shaking and his eyes are glassy. He tried to reach out to him but he’s already bolting out the door muttering a soft _“Excuse me,”_ then running without even closing the door. Sehun runs after him.

 

“Hyung, wait,” he catches Kyungsoo and pulled him so they’re facing each other. “what happened?”

 

“This is all wrong Sehun,” Kyungsoo says, his eyes shining with unshed tears, “that child. That child was me.” Sehun looked at him in confusion. “That child was _supposed_ to be me in this lifetime. I was Baekhyun’s cousin’s son. But that Kyungsoo died, because _I_ am here. Two Kyungsoo’s can’t exist in the same timeline. I altered the present, this is wrong. This is _all_ wrong.”

 

Sehun shook him by the shoulders, “Hyung, look at me.” Which he does. “I’m sorry but there is nothing we can do about it.” He knows this isn’t gonna help but he knows nothing else to say.

 

This is when Kyungsoo breaks down and cries. He cries hard because for the longest time that he was here, he was starting to think that this may work. That maybe nothing will go wrong even if he continues wanting something he’s not supposed to want.

 

He was just starting to think that this is _right_. 

 

But it’s _not_.

 

Nothing changes. He is still in a different timeline as his. He still does not belong here.

 

He looks at Sehun and hugs him real tight.

 

Kyungsoo needs to leave.

 

 

 

 

* *

They spend the rest of their days stuck together like a glue from then on. All the things they can do together, they do together. They play games, they eat take outs. They study (well Kyungsoo does, Sehun just looks at him and smiles fondly), they go to school and comes home together.

 

It's like they know they’re living on running time and they can’t do anything but just _live in the moment_ cause that is all they have.

 

They look at each other and their eyes scream the _I love you’s_ that couldn’t be said. Kyungsoo looks at Sehun and wonders if it is more painful to say it out loud than not saying it at all; Sehun looks at Kyungsoo and thinks about how scary it is to look at him and want something more. Anything would do. He just needs _more_.

 

In the end, they don’t say anything. Because they’re both idiots.

 

It’s what love does to people, Kyungsoo remembers Sehun saying. He can’t believe love could be such a cruel, cruel thing.

 

 

 

 

* *

Kyungsoo relives the moment he first met Sehun on his head. How in the world did he end up landing on Sehun’s bed, in Sehun’s room out of all the friggin rooms in the whole world, Kyungsoo would never understand. But somehow, it happened. And it was the best thing that Kyungsoo has ever received from life.

 

He looks at the calendar beside him. Only two days are left before he says goodbye to this. To all of these. To 2016, to the now, to Sehun.

 

Kyungsoo tries hard not to cry because he finds himself not wanting to leave.

 

 

 

 

* *

It was Sehun who tells him the news. One day before he leaves, Sehun enters their room with a folder and a sad look on his face.

 

“Why, what happened?”

 

Sehun raises the folder with a tired smile on his face. “I uh, I did my research.” He said and he sounds so tired and it breaks Kyungsoo in pieces. He reaches for the folder and opens its contents.

 

It was an old article about their experiment. He sees his name, a line that said he _went missing without any single trace_. That Baekhyun and the others lived their whole lives waiting for Kyungsoo but he didn’t come.

 

 _‘We were wrong,’_ the article says, _‘I guess the Phoenix could never fly without one of its wings.’_

 

“Chanyeol…” Kyungsoo cries, his vision blurred by the tears that flowed continuously from his eyes. “Sehun, they lived their whole life thinking it was a mistake…” Kyungsoo thinks of Baekhyun’s smile and Junmyeon choosing to gamble with them than taking the sure path that life painted for him. He thinks of Chanyeol and his eager eyes, he thinks of their faces full of hope just before he left.

 

“Sehun, I have to go,” he cried. He cried hard and Sehun held him without any intention of letting go. “I have to _go_ …”

 

“I know…” Sehun whispers before he lets himself crumble down too.

 

Kyungsoo thinks of love, of how he promised Baekhyun he’ll find someone worth taking the risk for. He found Sehun, and he thought that was enough. No one told him it would be this hard though. No book and no research told him that being in love would be this painful and this hard.

 

Do Kyungsoo, one of the most brilliant minds of the history of mankind, and he never knew just how hard it is to be saying goodbye to someone you don’t want to lose.

 

 

 

 

* *

Their last day just started like any days. With the smell of take outs and the silent rustles from the outside; students getting ready for school, others running late and dashing for their lives. But Kyungsoo and Sehun aren’t going anywhere. They’ve both been awake for an hour now (curse college for ruining their body clocks) and they just think it would be nice to just be together. Sehun wrapping his arms around Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo inhaling his scent. The same scent that welcomed him when he first came.

 

“Do you know how surprised I was when I saw you naked in my room months ago?” Sehun suddenly asks.

 

Kyungsoo laughs. “Yes, I do. You were screaming about it in words.” He shifted to allow himself to copy Sehun’s expressions. “You. Man. Naked. Bed.” He blurts with wide eyes and Sehun hits him with a pillow.

 

“It wasn’t that bad,”

 

“Yes it was.”

 

Kyungsoo inhaled deeply and smiled, looking at Sehun with all the love he can show with his eyes, “Thank you, Sehun,”

 

“For what?” the other softly asks, his voice breaking and his hands shaking as he plays with Kyungsoo’s hair.

 

“For letting me stay in your room.” Kyungsoo holds Sehun’s hand. “For showing me just how amazing college is. You were right. It was the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Kyungsoo squeezed the hand tighter. “Next to you of course.” The taller laughs at this.

 

“I told you, every decision that involves me is right.” Sehun replies and it takes them both back to their first meeting. It so bittersweet. They both just want more time.

 

“Thank you for taking those jobs for me—”

 

“You knew?”

 

“Chanyeol told me.”

 

Sehun looks even more confused. “He knew?”

 

Kyungsoo chuckles; maybe they should give their friends more credit. They know the things they both fail to see. Whether in the past or now.

 

“You were happy right?” Sehun asks him.

 

Sehun’s eyes are beautiful, Kyungsoo thinks. Even with the tears that are clouding them, his eyes remain to be beautiful.

 

“Very much so,” he replies and his voice comes out croaked and broken from all the cries he’s keeping inside.

 

If there is one thing that they were both regretting. It’s the fact that they kept everything inside them without voicing their feelings out. Even in these last moments, no one could muster up the strength to say those words. They both knew though, they both knew.

 

So when Sehun leans in to give Kyungsoo the kiss he’s been wanting to give him for so long, Kyungsoo meets him halfway. When their lips meet, it tasted like magic. It tasted like love, and risks, and fate. Two lips molded perfectly; just not at the right place and not at the right time. It tasted like tears and the tomorrows they both could not spend together.

 

It tasted like love, and it was perfect.

 

When Sehun opens his eyes, Kyungsoo is gone.

 

 

 

 

* *  
Year: 1814 (five months later)

 

Baekhyun whirls his head towards the kitchen where he hears something crash and fall. He runs so fast he trips on the couch but he doesn’t mind. His face brightens up with a huge smile when he sees a familiar figure on their kitchen floor.

 

“K-Kyungsoo…” he runs towards him and holds him by the shoulders, “CHANYEOL, JUNMYEON HYUNG, KYUNGSOO IS BACK!!” he shouts and they both hear rapid steps running towards their direction.

 

“Where? Where?” the other two whips their heads back and forth before landing their eyes on the figures on the floor. Their smiles disappear slowly when they hear Kyungsoo’s cries. His hands covering his face but tears are clearly strolling down his cheeks.

 

A picture of a broken man, and a broken heart.

 

Baekhyun didn’t pry, he didn’t ask questions. He just pulled Kyungsoo close and hugged him tight. He hears his friend call the name over and over again and a piece of his heart breaks with him.

 

 _Sehun. Oh Sehun._

 

 

 

 

* *

Three weeks without Sehun has Kyungsoo falling into a debris. A debris not even his friends could pull him out of. Day by day, he falls even deeper and now he doesn’t know what he should do to take the pain away.

 

The machine was a success. People rejoiced at the greatest leap mankind has ever done in the world of science. Their papers have been made public and now all that is left are the portraits and their meeting with the higher ups who would publish their works.

 

Kyungsoo expected to be pulled into a room filled with people who are dying to know how the future looks like but he was faced by his time machine and his friends smiling at him at the sides.

 

“What is this?”

 

“You’re going back.” Junmyeon says.

 

“What do you mean _I’m going back_?” Kyungsoo is confused and his friends are not helping. “I just came back.”

 

Chanyeol put his hands on his shoulder and pushed him towards the machine. “No, you’re going back to the future. Well, _our_ future. It’s gonna be your present soon.”

 

“I don’t—”

 

“All of these aren’t making you happy, Kyungsoo. Your happiness is not here anymore. It lies there,” he points at the machine, “more than a thousand years away.”

 

“But the machine, and the time line.”

 

“The time line will be fine. We’ll take care of the press so you my friend, will just have to leave and be happy.” Junmyeon says.

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll include snippets of you in the papers. Leave you clues that you’ll have to solve.” Kyungsoo is beginning to feel himself releasing the tension on his shoulders. He knows they can’t publish his name on the articles now. It would result to problems when he comes back to the future.

 

“Are you sure you’re willing to give this up, Kyungsoo? I mean, this is your dream.” Junmyeon asks again. Kyungsoo thinks of Sehun, his smile and his eyes. His snores and his gentle moans. The kisses he wants to give him and maybe much more than that if given the chance and nods. Junmyeon smiles at this and clasps his shoulder in an affectionate tap. “Be happy, Kyungsoo.”

 

“Yeah, be happy with this Se- what’s his name?”

 

“Sehun.” Kyungsoo supplies and he smiles. Even just mentioning his name makes Kyungsoo’s heart do summersaults.

 

“Yeah, him. Just, take care okay.” This time, Chanyeol cries. Because this time, Kyungsoo is not coming back.

 

This time, it is goodbye.

 

But they all want Kyungsoo to be happy more than anything else. So they decided to let him go.

 

Kyungsoo turns to Baekhyun this time. Holds his hand and smiles. “Wow, great job Soo.” Baekhyun says with glassy eyes. “You really found him huh. The man you’ll take the risk for,”

 

“This is a really huge risk,”

 

“Yes, it is.”

 

Kyungsoo looks at Chanyeol’s direction and back at Baekhyun. “You remember our promise right?”

 

“What if it doesn’t work out?” worry fills Baekhyun’s eyes and he’s looking at the love of his life but Kyungsoo beats him to it.

 

“If there is one thing that I learned from all of these Baek, it is that nothing is sure in this world unless you act upon it. We make our own fate. We carve our own path. If you don’t take a step now, when will you?”

 

“Wow, you make it sound like 2016 is a really cool place.” Baekhyun chuckles.

 

“It’s not. It’s smoky and hot and loud but,” _Sehun_ , “my happiness is over there. And yours is here, with you. You just need to take a step.”

 

Baekhyun smiles at him, now with a more determined look on his face. “I’m gonna miss you ass face.”

 

“Me too, Baek.” He hugs Baekhyun tight. “And to be fair, in that lifetime, it was Chanyeol who confessed to you first.”

 

“Oh thank god. I deserve at least that much.” Baekhyun replies and Kyungsoo hits him in the head.

 

Kyungsoo looks at his friends one last time. He knows he’ll be seeing the same faces in the other side, but these souls; he will never forget them no matter how many lifetimes will pass.

 

“I’m just really glad you’re not naked this time.” Junmyeon quips and they all laugh.

 

“Be happy, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun says, and Kyungsoo knows he will.

 

He presses the button, and let the machine take him to where his heart wanted to be.

 

 

 

 

* *

“Sehun, I swear to god if you don’t stop eating my sandwiches I’m telling Kyung—” Chanyeol was stopped by chopsticks hit on his head. Junmyeon and Baekhyun glared at him while Sehun continues sulking at the corner.

 

“Sehun, I know you miss Kyungsoo, we all do. But please stop this. We just want you to be happy.”

 

“I miss him so much hyung. I see him everywhere. I see him on our room, on the chair beside me in my classes,” he looks up, “I even see him behind you looking at us.” He says before burying his face on is arm again.

 

Wait.

 

He looks up.

 

“Nah. It can’t be.” He looks at his friends who are also looking at the ghostly image who looks exactly like Kyungsoo. “I’m going crazy, wow.”

 

“Is this seat taken?” the ghostly Kyungsoo asks and they all scamper to make room for him.

 

“He even talks! Hyung, take me to the hospital I think I’m dying.”

 

Three pairs of chopsticks come striking him in the head. “THIS _IS_ KYUNGSOO YOU DUMB FUCK!” Baekhyun screams.

 

“Now we’re going to leave you two to talk cause two dumbs are not allowed in the campus. Hello Kyungsoo it was nice seeing you again but can you please fix our friend. I think he’s broken.” Chanyeol says looking at Sehun who is just gaping at them like dumb fish.

 

The three left with shaking heads and left the two alone. It was Sehun who speaks first.

 

“Asdfghjkl,”

 

“What?”

 

Oh well, he tried.

 

“I mean, is that really you?” Sehun finally managed to ask. Kyungsoo reached up and kissed Sehun in the cheek. Sehun’s face lightens up in a smile that Kyungsoo missed so much.

 

“Yes it’s me. Why? Are you expecting anyone else to come and kiss you in the cheek?” Kyungsoo asks and he is smiling that beautiful smile Sehun missed so much.

 

“But, but why? I mean, your machine. Your friends.”

 

“They wanted me to go back to you. Turns out I can’t function well without you by my side Mr. Oh. You’re gonna have to teach me all the ways of 2016.”

 

“But, why?” Sehun’s question is so simple and yet Kyungsoo doesn’t think he can answer it completely in words. So he gives him the closest answer his words could give.

 

“Because I love you.” He says. “And I want to spend my birthdays, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and everything else with you. I regretted not telling you that before I left. So I’m gonna say it now, and every day for the rest of our lives if you want.”

 

Sehun doesn’t let him finish cause one second later, he scooping him in his arms and holding him with no intention of letting go. His heart jumps in happiness because this time, he really doesn’t have to let him go.

 

“Are you sure about this?”

 

“Well, I kinda threw away a fucking noble prize just for you so I think I at least deserve a kiss—”

 

And kiss was what Sehun gave him.

 

To forever.

 

To love.

 

To the _now_.

 

He gives Kyungsoo not just a kiss, but himself. His heart and his being. His present and his future. Maybe this is what love is supposed to be.

 

Painful and hard, but _worth it_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(epilogue)

_‘And so the Phoenix soared even without his other wing. The wing wanted happiness and found it somewhere else. The happiness was named Sejun, and I heard he was great. I’m sure you’re happy right now right? Stay that way. With love, the One-Winged Phoenix and the gang.’_

 

“Se-SEJUN???? WHO THE HECK IS SEJUN?”

 

“Oh yeah, Chanyeol never got your name right.”

 

“Wha- Is this even a name?”

 

“Sehun.”

 

“I can’t believe this. This is my only chance to have my name on my finals exam and yet,”

 

“Sehun.”

 

“SEJUN? I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL PARK—”

 

“ARE YOU GONNA FUCKING COME BACK HERE OR SHOULD I GO AND FIND SOMEONE WHO WILL FUCK ME?”

 

This changed the glint on Sehun’s eyes and crawled back to the bed where he has Kyungsoo sprawled out naked like how he first saw him. Right now, he has all its glory for himself though, so he thinks now is better.

 

“Hell no.” Sehun growls before he licks his way towards Kyungsoo’s dirtiest pleasures. “I’m gonna make you cum so hard you’ll be screaming nothing but my name afterwards. Better than that fucking noble prize.” Sehun bites his collarbone and Kyungsoo can’t help but let out a moan.

 

Oh Kyungsoo would love that.

 

He would love that _so_ much.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! please be sure to comment on either here or on our lj mirror!


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